The UK has led the world, by bringing in a Climate Change Act, in putting ourselves on a drastic carbon-diet. We are committed to reducing our carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.
Now if you had a look at me you would see that I'm not the best person to talk about diets, but I do think I understand the basic idea. To lose weight you have to cut down on the burgers, chips and beer. You might eat lettuce instead, as a replacement, but you don't get thin just by eating more lettuce. And it's the same with carbon diets. We have to cut down on the high-emitting coal-fired power stations, the flights abroad and car use if we are to get anywhere near the 80% figure. Renewable energy won't make us thin unless it replaces burning fossil fuels.
And as with food diets, on carbon diets some things are more difficult to give up than others. The government already gave in to temptation by saying yes to a third runway at Heathrow - what sort of a diet is that? This week, probably today, the government is going to tell us whether we can kick dirty coal into touch.
The road to climate-change hell is paved with good intentions.